Wednesday, 14 November 2012

Dragon Rider, Cornelia Funke

My independent reading book at the moment is Drachenreiter (Dragon Rider), by Cornelia Funke. I've read this book so many times in English (it's an amazing book), so I decided to read it in German, wich is the original version.

" A dragon. A boy. A journey. Firedrake, a brave young Dragon, and a lonely boy called Ben, set out on a magical journey to find the legendary place where silver dragons can live in peace forever.

Flying across moonlit lands and seas, they discover extraordinary new friends and a courage they never knew they had. Just as well, because a heartless enemy with an ancient grudge is never far behind them..."___________________________________________________________________________ 1) What is one thing you learned about yourself after reading today? Was there a character or an event in your reading that led you to this new understanding? Tell us about it. One thing I learned about myself after reading today was that I can find the humor in phrases in books. A very good example of this is one of the characters in the book, called Sorrel (Schwefelfell). Sorrel is a woodland forest brownie that comes from the highlands of Scotland. She has a catlike face, a sulphur- yellow coat with cream- colored spots on it, and she is no bigger than an average human child.Sorrel's personality is a "furry grumbleguts." Brownies, it is said, are never happy without something to complain about. Here are a few passages that define what others think about her and also her personality:"'Du weisst nicht gerade viel über das Ziel deiner suche, Lung!' , näselte die Ratte besorgt. 'Du bist nicht geübt darin, deinen Weg nach den Sternen zu finden, und Schwefelfell ist meistens so sehr mit Pilzen beschäftigt, dass sie Süden mit Norden und den Mond mit dem Abendstern verwechselt.'" Seite 26-27"'Now listen, Firedrake,' said the rat anxiously, 'you really don't know much about what you're looking for. You're not used to navigating by the stars and Sorrel's mind is usually so full of mushrooms that she could get North and South mixed up and confuse the moon with the evening star.'"Page 28"'Steig auf, Schwefelfell,' sagte er. 'Oder sollen wir Ratte mitnehmen, damit du jemandem zum Streiten hast?' 'Nein danke!' Ratte trippelte erschrocken ein paar Schritte zurück. 'Kein Bedarf. Mir reicht es, wenn ich die Welt aus Geschichten kenne. Das ist wesentlich ungefährlicher.''Ich streite sowieso nie,' brummte Schwefelfell wit vollem Mund und kletterte auf den Drachenrücken. 'Diese Spitznasen sind eben sehr empfindlich.'"

Seite 28"'Climb aboard, Sorrel,' he said. 'Shall we take Rat too, to give you someone to quarrel with?' 'No thanks!' Rat took a couple of small steps backwards in alarm. 'There's no call for that kind of thing. I'm perfectly happy to know the world at second hand. It's a lot safer.''I never quarrel with anyone anyway,' Sorrel mumbled as she clambered up onto the Dragon's back. 'Pointy nosed persons are over- sensitive.'"Page 29

2) Find a passage you felt was especially well written and describe what you found interesting about the writer's craft. "'He said he'd return? But he was a human being, right?' asked Sorrel. She laughed. 'Oh, come on! You humans don't return from the World Beyond. You lose yourselves there. Either you lose yourselves there or you forget the world you came from.' 'How do you know that's true of all human beings?' asked Zubeida Ghalib. 'I know you can enter the other world whenever you like, Sorrel. All fabulous creatures can, except for those who die a violent death. But there are some human beings who believe we to have only to become a little better acquainted with death to be able to return, if we want to. So who knows, perhaps there really is something of the old dragon rider in Ben.'
The boy looked at his feet uncomfortably. 'Oh, come on!' Sorrel chuckled skeptically. 'We found him in a pile of old packing crates. A stack of crates and cardboard cartons, on the other side of the world, and he didn't know a thing about dragons and brownies, not a single thing.'
'That's true,' said Firedrake. He bent his neck over Ben's shoulder. 'But he has become a dragon rider now, Sorrel. A true dragon rider.' (...) ' One thing fits, anyway.' Firedrake nudged Ben and gently blew the hair away from his face. 'He's as pale as the moon. In fact, rather paler at the moment, I'd say.'
Feeling rather embarrassed, Ben grinned at the dragon.

'Huh!' Sorrel picked up one of the fragrant petals and held it under her nose. 'I'm a dragon rider too, you know! I've been a dragon rider ever since I can remember. But no-one's making a big fuss about me.'

'You're not exactly as pale as the moon, are you?' said Twigleg, scrutinizing her furry face. 'More the color of storm- clouds, if you ask me.'
Sorrel put her tongue out at him. 'No- one did ask you,' she snapped. "Page 320- 322

Seite 274I found this passage very interesting. This passage shows Cornelia Funke's broad imagination, and how vividly she can express what things seem like and what the characters are like. I also chose this section because it is funny, obviously it revolves around Sorrel. Sorrel is for me the representation of humor in this book.

1 comment:

Hey Sarah, I've started reading this book for our English Independent Reading. So far, I've read the first few chapters and have really enjoyed the humour. I also like the fantasy part of the book, the fact that dragons really do exist.